Ziad's body of work as a director, producer, and writer has garnered an impressive array of over fifty awards and honors, solidifying his reputation as a master of his craft. His recent film, Hello Beautiful, won the prestigious Golden Palm for best film in all categories at the 25th Beverly Hills Film Festival, a testament to his dedication and artistic vision. Prior to this, he produced the Tunisian hit film Take My Breath, which has been selected to represent Tunisia at the 2025, 97th Oscars for best international film.
Ziad's extensive filmography includes a wide range of critically acclaimed productions, such as the Rwandan film Upstanding, the critically acclaimed The Island of Forgiveness with Claudia Cardinale, and the Iranian film Forbidden Womanhood, which he executive produced. His earlier work includes producing The Flower of Aleppo, starring Hend Sabry, and executive producing Dreams I Never Had, starring Malcolm McDowell and Robin Givens.
The Flower of Aleppo was honored as Tunisia's entry into both the 2017 Academy Awards and the Golden Globe Awards, while Irrefutable Proof, a dramatic thriller that Ziad directed and produced, swept the Beverly Hills Film Festival, earning three of the fest's highest awards: the Golden Palm, Best Actress, and Best Cinematography. He received the Abu Dhabi Film Festival's Black Pearl Award for Best Producer for the film Always Brando, which had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and went on to win the Best Picture Award from the Alexandria Film Festival and the Jury Prize from the Algerian Film Festival.
Ziad's documentary The Letter: An American Town and the Somali Invasion premiered at AFI film festival and was chosen as the opening film at Amnesty International film festival, where it won numerous awards and accolades. Woman, a documentary Ziad shot on location in Syria, earned him the Beverly Hills Film Festival's highest honor, the Golden Palm Award, as well as the Best Documentary honors at the BHFF and the Best of Fest Award from the Breckenridge Film Festival and the Accolades Award for Excellence in Film.
Ziad's critically acclaimed feature film Shadow Glories has been hailed as "Powerful and distinctive. A mature, accomplished work...strong, stylish and uncompromising" by Kevin Thomas, film critic for The Los Angeles Times. He also created two extraordinary theaters: The Open Fist Theatre Company and The Egyptian Arena, where he directed and produced over sixty major stage productions, including works by international playwrights such as Arrabel, Artue, Beckett, Brecht, Churchill, Gretzky, and Lorca.
As Artistic Director of the award-winning Open Fist Theatre, Ziad brought prestigious international playwrights to the LA theatre community, directing and producing productions such as Roxy Ventola's After The Bomb, Brecht's Baal, Sam Shephard's True West, Arrabel's Car Cemetery, Shakespeare's Hamlet, Fassbinder's The Bitter Tears Of Petra Von Kant, Tennessee Williams' Vieux Carre, Nicholas Kazan's Blood Moon, Poor Murderer, The Architect And Empress Of Assyria, Cinders, Low Level Panic, and Dusa, Fish, Stas, And Vi.
Ziad is a professor at Lesley University, teaching advanced and graduate classes in filmmaking and photography. He holds an MFA in directing from California State University, Fullerton, an MA in writing and criticism from California State University, Los Angeles, and a BA in theatre from the University of Massachusetts, Boston. He is a member of the Producer's Guild of America, serving on the diversity committee.
